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One of 29 built, one of four left, this Porsche 959 prototype is up for bid at Barrett-Jackson next week. Photo by Porsche 959 Prototype

Porsche 959 prototype to cross the block at Barrett-Jackson: 911 Turbo-based test car is one of four left extant

January 10, 2013

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When Professor Helmuth Bott arrived at the fledgling Porsche sports-car company in 1952, he was in his late 20s. The young engineer's first assignment was setting up a gearbox test stand for the company's new all-syncromesh Type 519 transaxle.

Thirty-one years later, he gave the go-ahead for the development of a car that was to be the ultimate bleeding edge of what Porsche knew about building a rear-engined sports car. The result is spoken of in hushed tones to this day. It inspires a deeper reverence than its follow-ons, the 911 GT1 Straßenversion and the V10-powered Carrera GT. It's the 959.

During the car's development, Bott commissioned a batch of prototypes for evaluation. Based on the widowmaker 930's chassis, they were used for a variety of purposes in three series -- F, N and V. Of the 29 prototypes built, this V-series car is one of only four survivors. Its history includes high-speed testing at Nardo.

It also looks like a bit of a kit car. The wheels sit too far forward in the wells. The front lid's shutline is a mite caterwompus. There are undoubtedly 959-lookalike 911s that feature better fit and finish.

But those cars don't have history. Those cars did not spring forth from the head of Doctor Bott as this alabaster ass-engined Athena did. Those cars would not exist without this one. And this one goes up for bid at Barrett-Jackson next week in Scottsdale.

Sure, you can't drive it on public roads without risk of arrest and the impoundment of your investment, but think of what a devotee of the marque could learn about the development of one of the world's most storied sports cars by disassembling it and putting it back together! We'd do it again and again. And again. We'd buy a mid-'80s 911 Turbo and put it on a neighboring lift, just to compare and contrast. Hell, we'd buy a production 959 and place it on the opposite lift, invite some pals over and just pore over the stuff, playing spot-the-difference for hours on end.

Then we'd point out that the 961, the road-racing variant of the 959, only managed to finish seventh overall in the 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans, piloted by René Metge and Claude Ballot-Léna. In 1970, as one may remember, a lowly 914 driven by Ballot-Léna and Guy Chasseuil placed sixth.

Our pals would then accuse us of bias and weirdness; of being unreasonably wedded to an ugly duckling with Volkswagen provenance. If Helmuth Bott hadn't died in 1994, he likely would've accused us of the same. After all, he claimed the 959 was his favorite car.